Motion-picture device.



P. J. TAYLOR.

MOTION PICTURE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28. 1914.

1,152;989. PatentedSept. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

A TTOR/VEYS P. J. TAYLOR.

MQTION PICTURE DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED ocnzs. 1914.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

llVl/E/V TOR P/l/L /P J. 727% 0i,

WITNESSES A TTOR/VE Y S cuwmam PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHXNGTON| n. c.

a To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, PHILIPJ. TAYLOR, a o

UNITED STATES PATENT 0mm I PHILIP JACKSON TAYLOR, or CAIRO, ILLINOIS.

Morrow-morons DEVICE. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. '7, 1915.

Application filed October 28, 1914. Serial No. 869,067. I

citizen of the United. States, and a resident of Cairo, in' the county of Alexander and State of Illinois, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Motion-Picture Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates'to improvements in motion picture device'sand' it consists in the combinations, constructions, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a device for intermittently driving sprocket wheel which feeds the film.

a A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the typedescribed in which the intermittent movement of the film is caused by the action of a spring, thus making the movement quicker and preventing the flicker which is attendant with devices of this kind when the latter are run slowly. a

A further object. of my invention is to provide a device of the kind'which obviates the necessity of using a cutting shutter when the machine is being run slowly. v

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification andthe novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings forming part of this ap: plication in whioh. I

Figure 1 is a plan view of the film feeding mechanism, Fig. 2 is a front view thereof, a portion of the frame being shown in section, Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3'3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of the escapement. mechanism, Fig. 5 is a section along the line55 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of: the arrows, Fig. ,6. is a section alongthe line 66 of Fig, 5 looking in the direction of the arrows, and Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are sectional views along the line 7-7 of Fig. 2, showing theapparatus in difierent positions. r

Referring now particularly "toFigs. 2 and 6 I have shown therein a portion of the frame 1 upon which is mounted a'bracket 2 having a bearing 5 at one end thereof. A bearing ,4. is carried by the frame 1 and mounted in the bearings 3 and 4: is a shaft 5. As will be seen from Fig.6 the bearing 4:

the

hereinafter described. v r

v Mounted on the shaft 15 are the sprocket wheels 6 which are joined by a common hub 7, the latter being secured .to the shaft by means of a set screw 8 or in any other suitable manner. The hub 7 is'prolonged as shown at 7 and bears an escapementwheel having teeth 8 arranged on opposite sides ofthe shaft, these teeth being bent in the manner shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6 so as to lie in a common plane at" right angles to the axis of the shaft 5. Similar teeth 8 are 'is prolonged as shown at for a purpose provided which are bent in the opposite'direction so that the ends of the teeth are sub: stantially in the same plane, this plane bemg also at right angles to the shaft5 and therefore parallel to the plane of the teeth 8*, but being offset from the plane of the teeth 8 for a purpose hereinafter set forth. Disposed on the extension 4 of the bearing 4 is a sprocket wheel 9 whose hub 19 bears two cam wheels 11 and 12 respec tively. The sprocket wheel 9 is'provided with a series of laterally extending pins 13. To one of these pins is'secured the end of a spiral spring 14: (see Figs. 3 and 6), the other end of the spiral spring 1 1 being secured to the shaft 5 which, as seen from Fig. 6, projects beyond the extended bearing 4*.

Carried by the framel is a U-shaped bracket 15 in which is mounted for revolution a sleeve 16 (see Fig. 5). The sleeve bears at this outer end an escapement mem ber17 having laterally and downwardly extending end members 17? and 17 respectively, as shown in Fig. 4:. A spring 18 is secured at one end to the escapement member 17 and at the otherend to the bracket 15 (see Figs. 1 and 5) this spring .tending to normally raise the end 17 a of the escapement ,member 17 and tonormally' keep the end 17 end normally holds the end 20 of'the escapement member 20 in an upper position and the lower end 20* in a depressed position. e I

At 23 I have shown a shaft which is mounted in a bearing 2d carried by .the framework 1, this shaft being Z-shaped and being provided with a guide roller 25 having. grooves 26 arranged to register with the teeth of the sprocket wheel (3. The shaft 23 has an extension 23 which is normally held by means of a spring 27 in such a position as to force the roller toward the sprocket. The roller, however, may be thrownback by rotating the shaft 23 into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing description of the various parts of the device the operation thereof may be readily understood.

The guide roller 25 is thrown back into its dotted line position and the film is placed in position on the sprockets 6 after which the roller is brought forward so as to prevent the film from lifting the sprockets. The sprocket wheel 9 is turned by means of the chain 28 in the usual manner. This sprocket wheel may run to a manually operated sprocket or to a power driven sprocket (not shown). As the sprocket wheel 9 is rotated the cam wheels 11 and 12 are also rotated and the spring 1a is tightened. The cam 11 is provided, as shown in Figs. 7, S and 9 with shoulders 11, 11 situated at points 180 apart while the cam. wheel 12 is provided with shoulders 12 and 12 respectively situated at 180 apart, but at 90 from the shoulders 11. The cam wheel 11 is in a position to engage the end 20 of the escapement member 20, while the cam wheel 12 is in position to engage the end 17 of the escapement member 17 (see Fig. 2). The ends 17 and 20 of the escapement members 17 and 20 are in position to be engaged by the teeth 8 and 8 respectively of the eseapement wheel. One of these escapement members 17 or 20 is always in the path of a tooth of the escapement wheel.

Consider. Fig. 2. In this figure the sprocket wheel 9 is supposed to be rotating clockwise when viewed from the right hand side, that is to say, when viewed in the direction indicated by the arrows on the section line 33, as shown in Fig. 3. This, as stated, puts a tension on the spring 14 and hence on the shaft 5, but the latter cannot revolve because the escapement tooth 8 is held by the portion 17 of the escapement member 17, because the opposite end 17 is held in an upper position by means of the cam member 12 (see Fig. 7). When, however, the shoulder 12 is reached then the end 17" of the member 17 will drop down, thereby lifting the end 17 and permitting the shaft to revolve until the tooth 8" comes into engagement with the end 20 of the escapement member 20 which is now forced downwardly into the path of the tooth S by reason of the engagement of the end 2O with the cam 11. As the sprocket wheel 9 turns still farther the escapement member 20 will shift its position when the shoulder 11 is reached (see Fig. 9) and the end 17 of the escapement member 17 will be forced downwardly into the path. of a tooth 8. Of course, when the member 20 is shifted so as to be withdrawn from the path of the tooth S the shaft 5 bearing the sprocket 6 will be revolved a quarter of a revolution or until the escapement wheel comes into contact with the escapement member17 The movement of the shaft 5 under the action of the spring 14 will tend to restore the spring to its original condition so that the spring ll is never completely wound up. The sprocket wheels 6 which draw the film forward, of course, move faster than the sprocket 9, and this motion is intermittent motion of a quarter of a revolution, while the sprocket wheel 9 is rotated continuously.

The tension of the spring 14: may be changed by shifting the end of the spring 14 from one of the points 13 to another, these points being located at convenient distances, as shown in Fig. 3, in order to provide the proper tension for the spring.

The device is comparatively simple, inexpensive to make, and yet positive in operation and provides a means of quickly shifting the film intermittently so as to obviate the flicker which is observed in other devices which run the film slowly whenever the machine is turned slowly. Since the movement of the sprocket wheels (3 which feed the-film occurs under action of the spring and this action takes place very quickly, it is immaterial whether the device be run at a slow or fast speed, the movement of the film being practically the same. Therefore the machine may be run at a comparatively slow rate of speed, while the actual movement of the film will be at substantially the same speed as if the machine were run faster. The time between these movements, however, will of course, depend upon the rate at which the machine is run. The construction described provides means for running a shorter length of film than could be run by devices in which the actual movement of the film is in proportion to the rate at which the machine is turned so that in fact, four hundred or six hundred feet of film will go, as far as results are concerned, as far as a thousand feet of film in ma chines in which the actual movement of the film is in proportion to the rate at which the drive wheel is run.

I claim 1. In a moving picture machine, a shaft, a drive wheel mounted to rotate about the axis of the shaft, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, a pair of sprocket Wheels arranged to engage the film,

an integral sleeve carried bysaid sprockets, said sleeve being arranged to fit over said shaft, a stop member carried by said sleeve, and movable stop members actuated by the movement of said drive wheel for intermittently engaging said first named stop mem ber, thereby causing the intermittent rotation of the sprocket wheels.

7 2. In a moving picture machine, a rotatable shaft, a drive wheel mounted to rotate about the axis of the shaft, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, cams carried by said drive wheel, a sleeve secured to saidshaft, integral sprocket Wheels carried by said sleeve, an escapement wheel carried by said sleeve, and escapement members adapted to be moved by said cams into and out of the path of the escapement wheel.

8. In a moving picture machine, a rotatable shaft, a drive wheel mounted to rotate about the axis of the shaft, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, cams carried by said drive wheel, a sleeve secured to said shaft, integral sprocket wheels carried by said sleeve, an escapement wheel carried by said sleeve, said escapement wheel having a plurality of sets of oppositely bent teeth, and a pair of pivoted escapement members arranged to be moved by said cams into and out of the path of the oppositely bent teeth on the escapement wheel.

4:. In a moving picture machine, a frame,

an extended bearing carried by said frame, a shaft mounted for rotation in said extended bearing, a drive wheel mounted for rotation on the exterior of said extended bearing, said drive wheel being provided with a hub, a pair of integral cam wheels carried by said hub, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, a sleeve surrounding a portion of said shaft, means for securing said sleeve to said shaft, integral sprocket wheels carried by said sleeve, an integral escapement wheel carried by said sleeve, said escapement Wheel having two sets of oppositely bent teeth, a pair of pivoted escapement members carried by said frame, an individual spring for normally holding one end of each of said escapement members in engagement with one of said cams, the opposite end of each of said escapement members being arranged to project into the path 7 of one of the sets of oppositely bent teeth on the escapement wheel, said cams being arranged to cause a movement of one end of one of the escapement members outward and from the axis of the shaft and to permit the simultaneous movement of the companion member toward the axis of the shaft.

' 5. In a moving picture machine, a frame,

by said hub, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, a sleeve surrounding a portion of said shaft, means for securing said sleeve to said shaft, integral sprocket wheels carried by said sleeve, an integral escapement Wheel carried by said sleeve, said escapement Wheel having two sets of oppo-' sitely bent teeth, and a pair of pivoted escapement members carried by said frame.-

6. In a moving picture machine, a frame, an extended bearing carried by said frame, a shaft mounted for rotation in said extended bearing, a drive wheel mounted for rotation on the exterior of said extended bearing, said drive wheel being provided with a hub, .a pair of integral cam wheels carried by said hub, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, a sleeve'surrounding a portion of said shaft, means for securing said sleeve to said shaft, integral sprocket Wheels carried by said sleeve, an integral escapement Wheel carried by said sleeve, said escapement wheel having two sets of oppositely bent teeth, a pair of pivoted escapement members carried by said frame, and an individual spring for normally holding the end of each of said escapement members in engagement with one of said cams.

7. In a moving picture machine, a frame,

an extended bearing carried by said frame,

a shaft mounted for rotation in said extended bearing, a drive wheel mounted for rotation on the exterior of said extended bearing, said drive wheel being provided with a hub, a pair of integral cam wheels carried by said hub, a spring connecting said drive wheel with said shaft, a sleeve surrounding a portion of said shaft, means for securing said sleeve to saidshaft, integral sprocket wheels carried by said sleeve, an integral escapement wheel carried by said sleeve, said escapement wheel having two sets of oppositely bent teeth, a pair of pivoted escapement members carried by said frame, an individual spring for normally holding the end of each of said escapement members in engagement with one of said cams, and the opposite end of each of said escapement members being arranged to project into the path of one of the sets of oppositely bent H. L. SKILES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

